With the Penguins known to be sellers this summer, there has been plenty of speculation about the future of some of their veterans. While wingers Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell have been generating a lot of attention, one other veteran that seemingly could be in play is blueliner Erik Karlsson.
The 35-year-old has two years left on his contract with the Penguins responsible for $10MM of his $11.5MM cap charge and San Jose covering the remainder. Notably, a $5MM signing bonus this summer has already been paid, meaning his total cash compensation remaining is $11.5MM over the final two years combined, $1.5MM of which again is covered by the Sharks.
While Karlsson has a no-move clause, Chris Johnston of TSN and The Athletic recently reported in his latest podcast (audio link) that he is willing to be moved. However, he adds that there are only a few teams the veteran is willing to move to; Johnston didn’t identify any of the potential landing spots Karlsson would be amenable to going to.
While Karlsson hasn’t been able to come close to the 101 points he put up just two seasons ago, he’s still an above-average offensive blueliner, notching 56 and 53 points over the last two years while logging over 23 minutes a night. While he’s never been elite on the defensive side of things, he’s still a legitimate impact player.
To that end, Johnston notes that Pittsburgh isn’t viewing Karlsson as merely a cap dump. If he is to be moved, GM Kyle Dubas will be expecting a positive-value return and in the current environment, he has a good chance to land that. The UFA market for blueliners is largely dried up now while more than one-third of the league has the cap space to take on the remainder of his contract outright without salary retention. Meanwhile, if Pittsburgh were to retain some money or take players back, several more teams could get into the mix as well.
Depending on which teams Karlsson is willing to move to, Pittsburgh actually might have more realistic options than San Jose did two summers ago when very few teams had the ability to add the bulk of his contract. Despite the drop in production, that should have Dubas in decent shape in terms of trying to build some sort of market for his defender’s services, especially if there are suitors that value the cap hit being higher than the remaining cash outlay.
But, even in a salary cap environment that’s set to jump again considerably next summer, moving Karlsson for even close to full value will be a challenge. That said, the Penguins didn’t pay close to full value for him two summers ago when he was coming off his third Norris Trophy win. So, while Pittsburgh is in decent shape to get something of value for Karlsson, it’s unlikely they’ll get a key element to their rebuild in a package. And with Karlsson holding the cards with a full veto if he doesn’t want to go to a specific team, the Penguins could yet lose some leverage in discussions.
While it might make sense to wait for an in-season move if injuries strike, the summer is generally considered an easier time to make bigger moves work on the salary cap side. With that in mind, Karlsson is a player to keep an eye on in the coming weeks with teams still looking to add to their rosters in a market where demand greatly outweighs supply.
A retention could boost the return significantly. They’re no longer cap pressed, and reducing the cost to 5M against the cap and 2.5M in cash per year makes the reward a lot better than the risk for many potential suitors…if he wants to go there.
They should really offer 50% retention to any team he is interested in and see who’s gives the best offer.
They can’t take another 50 percent off the hit as the max can be 50 in total. So they can top off whatever is left from the percentage sharks took off first time.
this is incorrect. a max of two teams can retain on a single contract and both can retain up to 50 percent. this happened with Ryan O’Reilly when he was traded to Toronto and he had a total of 75% retained through Min and STL.
I’m pretty sure the max is 50% on each of two trades, so that 75% of the original contract is the maximum retained between two teams. Feels like this has been done recently by Toronto.
The other two commenters are correct. Two teams can retain 50%. The rule will be getting tweaked with the new cba, but what Pittsburgh is doing would still be allowable at 50% retention.
Toronto is all over this, I hope they do it, And then, Next April, The Leafs will be clearing out their locker’s, And management will wonder, What went wrong. You can’t write this stuff.
You’re not wrong; but my hope is with the Shanaplan out the window, we can get back to real hockey.
we get it sparky. your brain is broken and clearly an ex leaf slept with your wife.
They’re called “insiders”
People who slept with sparky’s wife?
San Jose got rid of Mike Hoffman a year in advance to make Karlsson more comfortable on his return.
Karlsson left sj the season before hoffman got there
I know and now the sharks no longer have Hoffman so they can bring Karlsson.
it’s all jokes
Not seeing him in a Pens jersey is the only return I need.
Swung for the fences and corkscrewed ourselves. It happens. Dust off and move on.
With 50 percent retention, Pittsburgh SHOULD get a decent asset back. We’re talking a defenseman who can score 50+ points and run a powerplay, for what would be below market for that sort of thing. First rounders are handed over for less.
Here is how you rebuild:
1. Win the lottery to get McKenna
2. Maximize the value of you assets to flip them at the TD for a maximum return
To win the lottery, beat the Sharks and Hawks to the last place in the standings.
To build up the value of assets, get them to score a lot of points.
To lose more than anyone else, you need the worst goaltending. To that end, sign Georgiev.
The only assets are Rust, Rakell and Carlsson. Maybe Crosby could be persuaded to get traded at the deadline to a contender like Florida or Edmonton. Maybe even Malkin, if any contender wanted him, and they will if he scores a lot.
For the first time the Pens actually need Carlsson. He can help the other 4 and himself to score more points. So put them all together on PP and practice that PP as much as you can.
Carlsson is also useless defensively which is just what they need.
No one else needs to score. They can’t anyway. In this respect, Dumba was a good acquisition.
No one needs to defend, so they don’t need defensive-minded coaching. They must finish the last in GA.
Bottom line, Pittsburgh needs Carlsson to build up the value of the assets, and the whole lot needs to be flipped at the TD for a maximum return.
Leo Carlsson plays in Anaheim.
Your spelling his name wrong – It’s
Karlsson
With 50% cap retention, Carolina makes sense to me. They lost Burns, and for whatever reason traded Morrow for Miller, so they could use a righty. With their cap spaces, a two year deal is something they could live with if it’s a disaster.
Worst case scenario they have to flip him next off season if there is a FA prize they need the space for.
Pens tank for a generational talent? Never.
Works out well for them
Im still very impressed how That Trade turn foe the sharks haha(m’y team)
We got 14 overall Pick in 2024 30 overall Pick in 2025 and a forward that was Seen as a cap dump into a very valuable mentor and produce 100 point in one ans half Season for us haha on the flat cap era for the worsf Contract un thé league at That Time hahaha.
And turn out that grier turn the 14 overall Pick into the 11 that became Sam Dickinson potentiel LD franchise defensemen for the next 10-15 year hahahaha
Thank you Dubas.
Who would ever want him at this stage? He’s washed up.
-123 for his career. Will only get worse as he gets older.
If he ends up on the Kings, I will renounce them and become a Mighty Duck fan!
Just like with the Pens the last 2 years, he is now too young for the Kings, after seeing what they added in free agency over the last few weeks.